Elden Ring: Ulcerated Tree Spirit (Fringefolk Hero's Grave) Boss Fight

As you may know, bosses in Elden Ring are divided into three tiers. From lowest to highest: Field Bosses, Greater Enemy Bosses and finally Demigods and Legends.

Ulcerated Tree Spirit is in the lowest tier, Field Bosses, and is the end boss of the dungeon called Fringefolk Hero’s Grave in Limgrave. Like most lesser bosses in Elden Ring, this one is optional in the sense that you don’t need to kill it to advance the story.

Fringefolk Hero’s Grave is the dungeon behind the fog wall you run past just after the tutorial area in the beginning of the game, so you may not even remember it. I read that it requires two Stonesword Keys to open, but I can’t remember spending more than one, so perhaps it was changed. Or perhaps my memory sucks, which is probably more likely.

It is definitely one of the harder dungeons and bosses in Limgrave, so I recommend doing it as one of the last before moving on to the next region. If you need some practice, there is a slightly easier version of Ulcerated Tree Spirit hidden away underneath Stormveil Castle. When I think of it, I actually don’t know if it’s easier, but the area you fight it in is larger, so it’s easier to avoid its attacks, and it doesn’t have a proper boss health bar, so it’s not really considered a boss. So yeah, let’s say it’s easier. It has loot too, so you should go kill it regardless.

After navigating a rather long and annoying path where a big chariot is constantly trying to run you over, you will eventually reach the bottom of the dungeon where a fog gate gives you a strong hint of an impending boss fight. Annoyingly, there is no Site of Grace down there, but there is a Stake of Marika, so as long as you don’t leave the dungeon there won’t be a long corpse run between attempts.

The boss itself is a very large lizard slash tree like creature that moves around very quickly and likes to eat innocent Tarnished for all three important meals of the day, which may be why it’s plagued by ulcers. It has several nasty attacks to be wary of, perhaps most notably a large explosion it charges up and does occasionally. When you see that about to happen, just get out of the way as fast as you can, as there is no way to avoid taking huge damage from it.

Other than that, the boss is actually less dangerous than the rapid and erratic movements would suggest. Most of the time when it’s rampaging around the room, it actually doesn’t really do any damage to you, so just be ready for when it stops and goes back to attack mode and get in some good hits in the meantime. Actually, the biggest enemy in this fight is the camera as it will often be too close or even inside the boss, making it really difficult to see what’s going on.

After eventually killing the boss, you may think that this dungeon is done, but you have probably missed several areas of it. A complete guide to the dungeon is out of scope for this video, but there are some notable loot and a couple of mini-bosses to be found – and even a way to get revenge on the annoying chariot and access to the sweet loot it drops, so you should definitely make sure to explore it all.

And I know ulcers hurt. But please don’t take it out on innocent Tarnished looking for a tiny scrap of loot ;-)